God and Man in the Oval Office

Fred Barnes

Contrary to what his critics say, Bush's religion is in the American
mainstream.

Michael Gerson, the chief White House speechwriter, was recently asked by a reporter if he understood how the windup to President Bush's State of the Union address in January might have offended some people. Gerson was stunned. What Bush had said was: "The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity." Clearly, the line was not a reference to any particular religion, but a humble admission that human rights are universal, as opposed to an invention of the United States. Gerson cited America's founding document, the Declaration of Independence, to the reporter, especially the part about mankind being "endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights."

The incident is noteworthy because it touches on the notion that Bush injects too much of his Christian faith into his public pronouncements. On top of that, there's the related idea that the president, as an evangelical Christian, believes he was chosen by God to lead America into a war to depose Saddam Hussein and liberate Iraq. This is widely believed in Europe and even among some of Bush's American critics. The first idea is arguable at best, the second absurd.